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Class. IP S_ 3 503 
Book ^^ il ia^C3 
Gofiyiight N° [ ic, I 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



^ne OHS^hGDRHL HRD 

o^neR poems 



anti 

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C(l)arlc0 jScribuer's; Bonsf 

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Copyright, 1001, by 
Charles Schibner's Sons 



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THE LIBRARV OF 

COi^GRESS. 
Two Cofifca Received 

OCT. 30 1901 

COPVBinHT 6NTHV 

(rtJr h 0-iqcl 

CLASS CU XXc. No. 

/ ^ <^ ^ o 

COPY 3. 



The DeVinne Press. 



THE CATHEDRAL 

TO 

S. H. D 



What world-worn truths of satirists or sages, 
Upon our lust for hasty fame, engraft 

Such irony, as those sagacious ages 
With slow evolving miracles of craft ! 



CONTENTS 



The Cathedral 

The Spires . 

The Chimes 

The Cathedral . 

The Flying Buttress 

The Gargoyles . 

The Portal . 

The Nave . 

The High Altar . 

The Incense 

The Crucifix 

The Organ . 

The Tombs . 

The Confessional 

The Rosary 

The Shrines 

The Windows 

The Carvings 

The Trophies 

The Frescos 

The Choir . 

The Crypt . 

The Cloister Close 

Other Poems 



PAGE 

3 

4 
5 
8 
9 
10 
11 
13 
14 
15 
17 
19 
21 
23 
24 
26 
27 
29 
30 
34 
36 
38 



A Triad 

A Warning , 



43 
44 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Charm 45 

Estranged 46 

His Letter 47 

Her AnsAver 48 

Effroi d' Amour 49 

A Troth 50 

Thy Kiss 51 

Misgiving 52 

Assurance 53 

Denial 54 

In Dreams 65 

Heaven 56 

At Last 57 

My Debt 59 

An Earth-cry 60 

At the Last 61 

Triumph 62 

Seed-time 63 

Passion Week 64 

Envy 65 

Whom Death Divides 66 

Afterward 67 

Men and Women 68 

Lost and Found 69 

Beneath a Cowl 70 

At Vespers 71 

Her Eyes . . . . . . / . .72 

For Love of Her 73 

A Face 74 

Waiting 75 

A Fallacy . . . . , „ , . . 77 
viii 



CONTENTS 

PADH 

Joy 78 

To Music 79 

The Band 80 

Tristan and Isolde 81 

Musician to Poet 82 

A ta Voix 84 

D6sir 85 

To a Voice 86 

The God of Song 87 

A Soul to a Voice 88 

A Love-song 89 

The Voice of Israfel 90 

To Pain 91 

An Echo of the Orchestra 92 

Climax 93 

Inaction 94 

The Watcher 95 

Before the Battle 97 

" The World Forgot " 98 

A Last Appeal 99 

The Vigil ' . . .100 

The Doubter 101 

A Cradle-song of Faith 102 

Perversion 103 

Judgment 104 

A Prayer 105 

Beware an Empty Heart 106 

Life's School ....... 107 

In his Image ...,»,.. 108 

What the Gull Heard 109 

Sounding 110 

ix 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Restraint Ill 

The Inevitable 112 

A Double Grief 113 

The Night-watch 114 

Wasted 115 

The Cry of a Thought 116 

The Poet 117 

Inheritance 118 

" Joy Cometh in the Morning " .... 119 

" Things Unseen " 120 

Cleared 121 

Vale! 123 

Zero 124 

The Rain 125 

The Marsh 127 

Revolt 129 

A Golden Day 130 

An August Afternoon 131 

Out of the North 132 

Mysteries 133 

Devonshire Poppies 135 

The Song of the Camellia 136 

Dawn at Venice 138 

High Noon 139 

Plighting 140 

At Close of Day 141 

Nightfall 142 

January = . . 143 

Dies Rosationis ........ 144 

Midsummer ....<.... 146 



THE CATHEDRAL 



THE SPIRES 



AFAR— the spires arise above the dome, 
xx As sure and glad foundations,— ramparts blest ! 
On which the blue floor of man's longer home, 
Youth's heaven, faith's conjecture, rest ! 



THE CHIMES 

VENITE dorno Domini ! 
Ne dormite peccato, 
In excelsis laus Deo ! 
Salus datur homini ! 

Venite dome Domini ! 

Nunc audita claugorem ! 
Ne repellite amorem, 
Verum lumen homini ! 

Venite domo Domini ! 
Exultate gaudio ! 
Adorate studio 

Christum, donum homini ! 

Venite domo Domini ! 

Ne dormite peccato, 
In excelsis laus Deo ! 
Salus datur homini ! 



THE CATHEDRAL 

4 GAINST an evening sky of amethyst, 
ii. Dim veiled in contemplation reverent, 
With sole intent to magnify the Lord, 
The bride of heaven on the bridegroom waits. 

Supreme the symbol ! She doth wait, aware 
This too shall pass ;— with calm gaze turned upon 
The far horizon of the last elect, 
Where flaming truth triumphant shall unite 
The paling ages of fidelity 
In one vast pleasure of the infinite. 
Above the plain she towers as the past ; 
Before whose might the present is a babe ; 
Nor hath the din of armies, clash of arms, 
Crusading legions or invading hordes. 
Thirst, pestilence or famine, love or hate. 
Avail, to swerve the prophet from the dream. 
Blood and oppression, peace and brotherhood 
Have sought the potent shadow of her arm ; 
Within,— distracting wars of faith and doubt 
May rack her sore ;— smiting the bold exterior 
Fierce storms of lashing hail and scourging wind 
Harass the valiant parapets in vain ; 
While lightnings fork among the battled heights 

5 



THE CATHEDEAL 

Unheeded as the sunbeam's flattery, 
By her in whose stern gifting lies the crown. 
Despot of despots ! Tyrant of the cross ! 
Approved of the interminable stars ; 
Amid whose turret's spiral rhapsody — 
Those fragile alleluias carved in stone — 
The moonbeam's silver arabesque doth smile, 
And o'er whose mailed and militant facade 
Flow soft the crocus colors of the dawn. 

O torch flamboyant to the unknown God ! 
From out man's upward vision hither come, 
The spirit of a nation brought thee forth, 
Conceived by a bewildered love of Him ! 
A mountain fastness of the soul, — wrought out 
Of Nature's inexhaustible resource ; 
Girded in humble effort, stone on stone, 
By myriads of swarthy hands obscure ; 
Primeval forests did outstrip thy growth — 
For generations long delayed, — reared slow 
In contradiction, ignorance, and crime — 
Profaned by base protection arrogant, 
By desecrating mobs destroyed, restored — 
Preserved in imperfection, oft abused. 
Maligned, misunderstood, — yet never lost 
And never wholly wrenched from thy design ; 
Holding some semblance in thy mighty grace 
Unto the patience of Omnipotence. 

Blind superstition or clairvoyant faith — 
That pilgrim of the soul to the unseen 
Serenely walking barren ways, with eye 
Less fortified by outward cheer than hope — 
6 



THE CATHEDRAL 

By some conviction men have lived and died : 

Some fuel iu their ardent lineage 

Has kept the taper burning through the stress 

Of bestial pleasure, bigotry, and greed, 

That still the glorious sign iu stone prevails ! 

Mere structured marvel to the casual, 

A mediaeval relic obsolete : 

A vision to the seer, — unto the wise 

The landmark on a waste of history ; 

Refuge and worship unto the devout ; 

But to thyself, — what art thou to thyself, 

Thou rugged chant of universal praise ! 

As the Creator formed His wilderness. 

The sunsets of an arctic solitude, 

And misty miracles of tropic seas. 

To recompense an infinite delight- — 

Finite requirement full satisfied ; 

So man, in turu, reflecting Deity, 

Enamoured of creation's glad appeal. 

By toils colossal ventured to become 

Partaker in creative ecstasy, — 

Thrilled by affinities ineffable. 

His rocky bastion fling jjrecipitous 

From the abysmal depth of his estate, 

Sheer rising- to eternal consciousness ! 



THE FLYING BUTTRESS 

SO buoyant here, — tlie stony pinions free, 
One dreams that eagle wings shall be unfurled, 
To bear her o'er the bright gate of that world 
Elijah found, — the hope of prophecy ! 



THE GARGOYLES 

BEASTS from out the forest of the soul, 
What sport of human frailty makes ye grin ' 
Did cunning hands, grown weary of the throng 
Of angel hordes, yield for the nonce to sin — 
Give sacrilege her way and fashion je ? 

Flaunting your jest at holiness abroad, 
What media3val imps of man's revenge 
Are ye ! Exorcised in the name of God ! 



THE PORTAL 

O'ERHUNG with masoury, portentous massed 
"Whose warding vigilance doth not abate 
A chastened welcome unto all who wait 
Upon this treasury of ages past, 
Where once the hunted fugitive aghast 
Fled to God's wrath, escaping human hate — 
Above the listless beggar at the gate, 
fnvites the sanctuary's portal vast. 

Beyond the threshold of the open door, 
Art's wayward inspirations prisoned be, 
Gathered as pebbles on the shifting shore 
Of years, — outstretched unto infinity. 
Within, — the saints' communion shall restore 
The soul, and wearv sin find clemencv I 



10 



THK NAVE 

ODIM and holy heart, 
AVhereiii the Lord must take delight to dwell 
O vast and sacred heart, 
A near presentiment of love,— thy spell. 

"With clasped uplifted hands, 
An intercession ever unassuaged, 
The rhythmic outline stands ; 
Tho' far beneath, glad pageantry be staged 
On glowing doors, whose rare 
And full-veined marbles woo the knee ; 
Mosaics deep and fair 
Of agate warm and lapis lazuli ! 
Thy fragrant winding ways, 
Chapel and altar, transept and arcade. 
May be for festal days. 
For sacerdotal sacraments arrayed ; 
Thy clustered pillars blend 
With bannered ceremonial's (Uiree, 
Thy gracile arches lend 
Their every sinuous harmony ; 
The tinted porphyry 
From nvyriads of golden lapers bright, 

11 



THE NAVE 

With murky ebony 

And frosty Parian beguile the light. 

Still, gathered high aloft 

The usufruct of worship, lavished prayer, 

Praise and contrition soft, 

A lesser Eucharist, — abideth where 

Odors of sanctity 

Cling close beneath the sloping rafter space ; 

Vague haze of piety ; 

The outward seeming of an inward grace. 

O dim and holy heart, 

AVherein the Lord must take delight to dwell ! 

O vast and sacred heart, 

A near presentiment of love, — thy spell. 



12 



THE HIGH ALTAR 

A THRONE with King invisible, that stands 
For deathless dynasties not made with hands, 
Founded on certainty of things unseen, 
Whose law is perfect and whose fear is clean. 
Whose sovereign majesty doth condescend 
Unto the lowliest of them who bend 
Far down beneath upon the humblest stair. 
Submissive subjects of the altar's care. 



13 



THE INCENSE 

MUTE prayer too deeply hid to find the lip — 
Ascend, ascend that mine may follow thee ! 
Wraith of a soaring impulse heavenward, 
Exhale above all choral ecstasy ! 
As wordless breath of fragrant wonderment — 
Or risen vow in penitential shroud — 

Ascend, ascend in soft uplifted flight, 
To veil within thy floating cloud 
The radiance forbid to human gaze ; 
Till touched by gleaming wing of seraphim. 
Thou art refulgent glory unto God — 

The heart's incarnate cherubim ! 



14 



THE CEUCIFIX 

PALE in the trembling candle-light 
The wide arms of a crucifix invite ! 
Before whose passion lifted high, 

A prostrate j)eniteut asleep doth lie ; 
Assured his blessing, for the sake 

Of that compassion which doth ever wake, 
Whose peace denied the doubting seer 
The faithful animal may gather here. 

Pale in the trembling candle-light 

The wide arms of a crucifix invite ! 
Joy kneels to triumph over life ; 

Valor to victory o'er sin and strife ; 
Grief prays with heavy-laden breath 

Unto the power that hath worsted death ; 
While colder hearts must always see 

A man, — upheld by love, through agony. 

Pale in the trembling candle-light 
The wide arms of a crucifix invite ! 

The outcast dreads the golden beam 

That seeks and finds him, with accusing gleam 
15 



THE CRUCIFIX 

The tempted shudder, children fall 

Before the sacred emblem that holds all 

Life's legend in the blood-stained hands ; 
All that the faith inspires or law demands. 

Pale in the trembling candle-light 
The wide arms of a crucifix invite, 

While ceaseless adorations rise 
Unto the mystery of sacrifice ! 



16 



THE ORGAN 

HIGH priest to the hurt of the humau, 
Confessor of riteless lives, 
How weariness rests in thy solace — 
How thy tremblant mercy shrives ! 

To worship beyond mediation 
Rise the daring chords of bliss, 

In a rapture of exhalation 

Breathes the Spirit's holy kiss. 

And the woe of existence merges 
Her pang in the triumph flight, 

As the breast of the Unseen bending 
Embraces despair in light. 

Lone winds of the Mightiest whisper 
Through the soul's each hid recess, 

In a swoon of dreamy communion 
The languors of heaven bless. 

And the throb of the keys is passion, 
The swell of the pipes is pain, 

And the crash of the peal is pardon. 
And peace is the old refrain. 
17 



THE ORGAN 

How the lame leajj glad at the suminons, 
And the blind forget closed eyes, 

The doubter believes at the bidding, 
And ijeichauce, — the dead arise ! 

]\Iore than wail of the Stabat Mater, 

Or cold Gregorian grim, 
Thy reverberant miserere 

Cries out of the deep and dim. 

Breaking thy heart through the misty awe 

Of the vaulted dusk above, 
As a shattered alabaster-box 

At the living feet of Love ! 



18 



THE TOMBS 

A LAS ! Among the tombs of conquerors to find 
jl\^ Alone the monumental permanence of death I 
Such footprints do but prove that they are gone — 

remind 
Of this supreme survivor of our mortal breath. 
How human and how sad ! In naked memory 
Far down the bloody brilliant vista of the past, 
Their conjured dust starts up in quick vitality — 
Only to shrivel here ; — cold sepulchred at last ! 
Beneath the carven crest of empire blazoned high, 
By some dark tryst imperious o'erlong detained — 
The kingly libertine, absolved and robed, doth lie ; 
And poets eternal rhythm find, in dreams 

unstained ; 
While sculptured knights, unquesting, sleep by 

idle swords ; 
And armored heroes in recumbent effigy. 
Within her sombre breast each mausoleum hoards 
A weight of fame, — a dumb and massive elegy. 
Lost ages gossip lightly in the marble line — 
So audibly the past seems musing in its sleep, 
Almost may one the dreamer from his dream 

divine — 

19 



THE TOMBS 

As toward oblivion lieuse the lieavy shadows creep 
Tc blur the passive legends by the daylight traced ; 
Those mortal seemings ; disinherited by night 
Inexorably as the living forms that graced 
This fair, dissolving panorama of the light ! 



20 



THE CONFESSIONAL 

DARK sea to wliicli iiiinnmbered rivers flow 
To lose their restless freight of woe 
And drift unclean ; 
Canst thou send forth again, dishonor-dyed, 
The crystal brook of niountaiu-side 
And lone raviue? 

O cold confessional, into whose ears 
The Borgia whispered blood, and fears 

Of penalty, 
Grudging thy cursed might with starting eyes 
And clench&d fist, — yet all too wise 

To braggart thee ! 

To thee betrayal sobs a wasted joy, 
And innocence a light alloy 

On timid knees ; 
Where malice, treason, tyranny defile 
The shriven silence with their guile 

Of centuries. 
21 



Til K (ON KKSHJON A I. 

The Clmrch with God Alniighty hid liath kei)1 
Sin's secret, — brazen or long wept — 

Condoned, forgot ; 
lUil doth liei" expiation piove remiss, 
Or win her chiUlren lasting bliss? 

The dead si)eak not. 



22 



THE ROSARY 

QYMBOL of liopes and fears ; 
^ Doubt stilled, strange tears 
Allayed ; the wonted sign 
Of pledge divine ! 
The toy of human needs 
These helpless beads — 
Told in the market-place 
With stolid face, 
Told when the shadows climb, 
At Ave chime, 
Told in the hush of night 
By sinners light, 
Chaplet on chaplet blest 
To bribe unrest ; 
Clasped oft in stark -dead hands 
In alien lands. 

A sacred heirloom, that at once 
shall be 
God's threat and promise of 
paternity ! 



23 



THE SHKINES 

ON each bent suppliant below, 
The waxen image smiles redress ; 
Whatever be the muttered woe, 

However hungry man's distress — 
Immovable it doth bestow 

The waxen smile to cheer and bless. 

Grimed laborers forsake the throng, 
Half numb with toil their bodies fling 

'Mid youth unchallenged yet of wrong, 
And crones whose fingers stammering 

Scarce push the slipping beads along — 
And peasant girls with heart of Spring. 

Here mothers pray an amulet 

For children with wide lolling eyes, 

And brows with holy water wet ; 
Here for revenge the lover cries, — 

The courtesan doth half forget 
She hath no part in Paradise ! 
24 



THE SHRINES 

To move the Virgin's woman side 
To lenience by fond device, 

Lie red-lipped flowers, ribbon-tied — 
Cast at her feet to pay the price 

Of piety ; mayhap to hide 
Some sin too dear to sacrifice. 

Beneath the candles, banbles strown, 
And votive boats to still wild seas — 

Let him observe who would disown 
All virtue in such deities. 

Deep hollows in the floor of stone 
Worn by the flesh of pilgrim knees ! 



25 



H 



THE WINDOWS 

E ART- BEAT in colors ! Bacclianal of saints ! 
Archangel smileSj — when fasting nature 
faints 
Beneath the yoke of beauty-banned 
restraints ! 

O petals of the great rose uppermost, 
Wafted in opal o'er the lifted host 

As dazzling raiment of the Holy Ghost i 

O burning reds, — and blues of sun-kissed sea, 

Dipped off the very waves of Galilee — 

And regal purples rich in mystery ; 

O molten yellows splashed upon the ground 
As sunlight tracery, — a garland wound 

With threads of rainbow, — hath no Pope e'er 
frowned 

Upon these feasts of sensuous holiness ? 

Such wine of life to veins vowed passionless "? 
Dripping from joy's forbidden cup to bless 

The sense, and stain the calm white lives' close bud 
With glory glints from Virgin robes aflood, 
Or tragic crimson of the Saviour's blood ! 



26 



THE CARVINGS 

BURNISHED by Time's propitiating lustre, 
Postured in visions of enduring grace — 
Angels and druids, birds and fruitage cluster 
'Mid waving leaves that lace and interlace. 

Pagan and Christian, — sanctified, united, 
Hallow their praise in art's glad sacrament ; 

Ancient and modern here their faith have plighted, 
The lotus with the passion-flower blent ! 

Christ and the twelve, in varied service bending, 
Pillars triumphant wreathed in scrolls of love ; 

Martyrs and saints, ascending and descending ; 
The crown and cross, the lily and the dove. 

Out of the olive and the ruddy cedar. 
Out of the sturdy heart of Flemish oak. 

The Church shows forth the symbols of her leader 
Through patient handiwork of simple folk. 

Musing the while on fabled forests wondrous, — 
Faint stirring palms by desert zephyr wooed — 

Hearing the din of trampling tempest, thundrous — 
The carver at his altar sang and hewed. 

27 



THE CARVINGS 

Lusty of life and sober of endeavor, 

Till evening drowned the day of toil and pride ; 
Haply the tree be deified forever — 

He sleeps forgotten ; — pale and pacified. 



28 



THE TROPHIES 

LIMP hang the wrested spoils of victory, 
i Dyed in the fading hne of passing days. 
Torn beaks of mouldy ships mute pseans raise ; 
Strange arms, rust-wrought, and wan embroidery, 
Condemned to fame by some spent enemy, 
To valor's prowess lift a thousand yeas. 
Imperious standards bowed in praise 
Of war, — war with its golden panoply ! 
But what of him who fronts a fiercer horde 
Within the walls of Self! Beneath what stars. 
Before what patron saint, arrayed and scored 
The trophies of his inner fray, — the scars 
Of perils past ? Shall they not hang restored 
As surely as the armature of Mars "? 



29 



THE FEESCOS 

ITALY, love-mastered Italy ! 
Out of the ruins of antiquity 
Art owes her resurrection unto thee ! 
Thine be the burning signals all the way 

From myth of Sun-god to the Hebrew tale, 
Through iridescent gleams of pagan day, 
To Sorrow gray, with folded pinions iDale. 

These walls, — where beauty-haunted hands 
portrayed 
Legends aerial to flash and fade, 
In colors of ascetic vision laid — 
Reflect in flowing contour, tint and tone, 

Faces and forms transfigured as best seemed 
From out the world that was the painter's own. 
Illumining the task whereof he dreamed. 

The story of redemption, page on page, 

Is spread, — as feast of sense, or counsel sage. 
The open bible of a darker age ; 

Before whose vivid revelation free. 

Oft read by eyes to learning all unused. 

The sons of ignorance and pedantry 
Are by a common sentiment sufTused. 

30 



THE FKESCOS 

Soft on the glooms augelic halos sbiiie, 
Where lustrous visitants of mystic sign 
Anuuueiate a Saviour's birth divine ; 

Or ft'owning Judgments sternly satirize— 
Distracted stare in admonition grim, 

Visage and vesture ill to canonize, 
Cleaving rent graves with gaunt extended limb. 

Adam's creation, and his shrinking Eves, 
Temptations lurking 'mid exotic leaves. 
The patriarchal fiible interweaves. 

Adoring Magi at the manger bed,— 

The Master walking careless o'er the sea— 

The money-changers from the Temple sped— 
The whole bleak path through lone Gethsemane 

Up to the white ascension glorified 

With virtues of Our Lady, here divide 
Immortal exaltation, side by side ; 

Where worldling and Dominican have wrought 
In rosy flesh their glowing heaven's Queen, 

Hard by transcendent spirits wonder-fraught— 
From Palmos of the Buonarroti seen ! 

Bright-wingSd hosts clash golden cymbals high. 
Round-limbed Sebastians on a Southern sky' 
With Gabriel's auroral graces vie ; 
Whose rathe dawn-charm of adolescent youth 

Leads meditation from herself astray. 
Till as some hooded penitent, the Truth, 
Before the sacred lust of such array. 
31 



THE FKESCOS 

Luminous creatures, bathed in atmosphere, 
Wreathed by prismatic aureolas clear — 
In an apocalypse of bliss appear. 
What necromantic spells doth art dispense ! 
Bacchus turned saint, in tame and chastened 
guise, 
And Venus, through religion's exigence, 
A calm madonna with meek lowered eyes. 

Thou, Leonardo, thou and thou alone 
Of thine inspired brotherhood, hast shown 
The dignity of God enhanced, and known 

The human Christ beyond all mastery ; 
Nor draped fictitious vapors fair about 

That upper chamber's bare reality — 

Whose fact confounds the falsity of doubt. 

Ceiling and chancel, apse and baptistry 
Appeal in helpless terms of infancy — 
Blazon their love-begotten victory ; 

Flaunt their vermilion canopies urbane. 
Poise phantom seraphs with a wakeful horn. 

Nor sliall art's apotheosis in vain 
Reiterate, interpret or adorn. 

O rapt creators of the long ago, 

Run ftist the world away — or linger slow — 
Flush the returning May, or drift the snow — 
Our later hearts shall fitly recompense 

With proud ascription, giatitude and fame. 
Your pigments hued with faith and eloquence, 
Your palettes stained with fervor and with flame ! 
32 



THE FRESCOS 

Blest be the eyes, whose smitten vision drew 
Such holy concourse from the upper blue ! 
No allegory theirs, but witness true 
Unto the presence of Divinity 

Amid the brief, familiar phase of earth. 
Celestial transports ever welcome ye, 
Through whose presumption hope still finds 
rebirth ! 



33 



THE CHOIR 

AS sunbeams solemnized by arches grave, 
xjL Flashed throngli the nave high triumph from 

the Choir ! 
Uplifting haughty crests of stone across 
The vague set boundaries of spirit- world, 
A chasm, overspanned with sound. 

O wonderful ! 
Within this sacred solitude of soul 
Allured by one lone voice escaped confine, 
Or wafted concord of a rapt "amen" — 
To wander on, as hesitant to fright 
Some shy and tuneful creature of the wood, 
Whose silver accents animate the dusk. 

Till through sonorous intervals of change — 
The living and the dead, near and remote, 
All past and present — peace and judgment, swing 
With symbol and reality, swept high 
In dizzy altitudes of far Beyond ! 
One surging wail of choristers, of priests 
And acolytes ; — one flaring flame of gold — 
Of sable vestments, — crimson, purple, white — 
In chorals threatening, assail and claim 
The glory or the pity of a God ! 

34 



THE CHOIR 

Their last cry tlirilling to the lofty vault 
As o'er the strings of some jEolian 
Harp, it smote upon the vibrant doors of 
Paradise ; then, downward dripping, passed 
Away, as wind among the mountain pines. 
For one bare instant leaving agony 
And joy, in tortured harmony so wed, 
As did forever seem to signify 
Heaven tormented by a thought of hell — 
And hell for heaven's nearness doubly liell ! 

Then by the low antiphonal subdued. 
Wave under wave, within the sacristy 
The spent recessional doth soft recede ; 
Where inmost gates of inner hush, upon 
The smallest saint be silent drawn — and shut. 



35 



THE CKYPT 

HER splendor by eternal truth upborne, 
Magnificent, infallible, secure — 
The fealty of the risen Church is sworn 
Unto the sunken crypt her walls immure ; 

Deep in the buried source of vital things, 
Where increase hoards her slow, persistent store, 
And growth to unperturbed fulfilment brings. 
Unlit of morning and unchilled of hoar. 

Within these mazy precincts taciturn, 
The persecuted found a hiding-place ; 
These chiselled labyrinths did oft inurn 
The smothered chanting of an exiled race. 

As some reclusive band of anchorites 
In strict performance of a penance just, 
The gloom-girt piers support the massy heights 
Above the moulding archives of the dust : 

Till pallid torches part the cumbrous shade 
To seek the mournful coffers side by side — 
Where, crusted o'er with glistening gems, are laid 
The sacred bones of the beatified — 

36 



THE CRYPT 

A trance of metal hues and malachite, 
Revealed in fitful gleams of ecstasy, 
While dirge and requiem their cadence plight 
Unto the cavern's solemn sanctity. 

Unshaken by the organ's dominant — 
Unsearched by wing of joy, or human cry — 
Endure the grim foundations, ministrant 
Upon the Lord of Hosts pavilioned high ! 



37 



THE CLOISTER CLOSE 

LOVELY the square of pious green, where silence 
i broods 

A gentle confidence in all the mystic past ! 
Eden of Dean's devotions, Canon's prayers 5 soft 
moods 
Of sanctified desire, — that vow and rile outlast. 
Beneath these arches meditation hovers low — 

A melancholy, as of ages long at rest, 
And pensive charm of world-forgetting hearts, 
bestow 
An ashen benediction on the dying AVcst. 
A serious beauty bathes the clambering rose 
Upon the cloister roof, o'er gray walls cut with 
names 
Once dear to daily brotherhood, — whose safe 
repose 
The transient i)ath of Nature, love and life 
proclaims. 
Here pace the placid friars ; youthful priests ; 
with ear 
Intent unto the lowly voice of conscience' laws. 
As wilder hearts outside the sheltered fold, to hear 
The scarlet bugle-call to conflict's clashing cause ! 
38 



THE CL0I8TER CLOSE 

Fit only for the passions tliat to-morrow die — 

Or foi- tlie cloister that hath no to-day, is man I 
The Summer bird that trills her duty to the sky 

From these unheeding eaves, rejoieeth for a span ! 
Drugged deep in sweet anointing of the spirit 
balm, 
With happiness secure for errant hopes 
resigned — 
Do feet that tread these ways of holiness and calm 
The vaunted "peace that passeth understand- 
ing" find? 



39 



OTHER POEMS 



A TRIAD 

PAIN — that doth steal her own fVoiii human 
arms, 
And bear them out beyond Love's boundary — 
Wlicre ilesh alone resists her demon claws, 
The spirit shrunk to narrow agony. 
Grief — at a shining stroke of wayward frost 
Wilting old i)leasure's garden of delight; 
Each hope become a haggard questioning — 
Mocked by the morning sun's familiar sight. 
And Sin — filling the white sails of desire 

With trembling kisses, turning swift to flame, 
To burn the sircn-liaunted wanderers 
Down to their blackened hulks of crime and 
shame. 

O Life, — what safety hath a heart in worlds 
Where such a triad mark a sure abyss ? 
What chance hath man's frail-founded 

happiness — 
His heaven-set face ? 

Nay, Love must answer this ! 



43 



A AVAKNING 



rpilE way to hapi)iiicss is Uu\)ugli Ihesc eyes! 
X — The path to misery l)eside it lies ; 
The road to J>re;unlaiul through this eriiusoii gate ! 
— Whose toll iu kisses [)aicl leads oil to hate. 
There will be neither light nor voiee to guide — 
Beware thy steps where destinies divide ! 
IVril anil paradise both beeUou thee, 
And no man's goal another may deeree ! 



44 



CHAKM 

rpALKING ol" tlii.s, — how could wc parU 
A The liquid glamour on the sea 
Kosc slcadily to Ihxxl llic heart 

In emerald mysteiy. 
Yet were we silent, — as of yore, 

Mescems 'Lwere slill a Summer day, 
Whose ebbing hours, with us implore 

The hastening sunset stay ! 



46 



ESTRANGED 

I LEFT the love-loeked harbor of thine heart — 
Not wrenched from weed-girt moorings by a 
sudden tide, 
But won l)y waves that wooed inconsequent the 
start 
Down deep-sea passions no small bark could ride. 
Life's current rocked me, — bore me, — swept me 
out of hail — 
An empty soul for cargo ; all unsteered ; to be 
An unguessed derelict 'mid craft that sail 

Erect to listed ports ; — a waif adrift from thee ! 
To wreck with all my colors flying at the mast, 
Nor sight again that haven of the past. 



46 



HIS LETTEE 

AS Nature wasting for the rain of Spring, 
xJL She waited for his letter — over seas, 
Long liills lay dusty for her travelling, 

The Summer days but bloom-girt travesties ! 
She waited by the moon, with sightless eyes, 

Unbearable her woman's industries, 
She waited brave or pensive, womanwise, 

For that uncoming voice across the seas. 

Weary the while, she lent her ear to catch 

The constant rhythm of a neighboring tune, 
That clung as bees about a rose-clad thatch, 

Piped 'neath her window noon by noon. 
Last night she oped the lattice of her heart 

And took it in ; — to-day, as if to shame 
Inconstancy unto the rover's faith, 

Across the silent seas his letter came ! 



47 



HER ANSWER 

WIT AT would it be to sliiue as one small star— 
Where day ebbs last aeross the bar 
or j^old liorizon rimf One small star seen 
Throu<;h apple blooms of white and green? 
With the May erescent moon to lie awake, 
Deekiiig I he sky for Jjove's own sake, 
Lest the short night tall dark o'er one dear head' 
That would be heaven, — the maiden said. 



48 



EFFliOI IVAMOUR 

T STIirr my eyes— so low Ww licavciis Jciiit 
■ Above my l-icc in lii.s, llmX ncjiicr bent,,— 
All piisl, all fill lire swciviiij;' under me, 

Swill faiiilness oConeoming cerlainLy 

l^Jien one slow kiss ! 
My own liearl, knocking' :il my side, 
As did some nek less horseman lide 
'I'o oiilslrip Miss ! 



49 



A TROTH 

I GIVE myself to thee. Do thou control 
Passions and j^owers ; mate my woman's sonl 
Unto thy breast ! 
Throughout eternity, if God so will — 
I give myself to thee, — and marvel still 
To be so blest. 



50 



THY KISS 



O INCE first I stood within the moonlight of thy 
^ soul, 

Awe-struck, transfigured by thy vision white — 
To touch with wondering the cup of life 

From thy pure lips, uplifted in God's sight ; 
All present joy is shamed by that dear sacrament ! 

Before whose memory all passions pale, 
As at the brimming chalice of thy love 

Another Parsifal did find the Grail. 



51 



MISGIVING 

I WOULD not be the mountain outline bold, 
To bind the near horizon of your sight — 
Though early blossoms roam my rocky steei)S, 
With singing cataracts and stormy winds, 
And white clouds hover close above my heights ; 
Lest your raised eyes o'er intervening fields 
Should beat at last on Love's strong barrier 
And sigh for sake of roving prairie space ! 
Rather the heart of me shall be as light 
Upon the crest of endless days ; that still, 
Changeful yet constant as the circling sun, 
Shall range with thee in radiant liberty ; 
Whose wander-beams no limitation find — 
Aud in whose joy the wheeling seasons go ! 



52 



ASSURANCE 

APPROACHABLE horizons onward flee 
J^ Before a love like that of thine and mine, — 
Pent of no shelving shore or twilight line 
The country of our Song and Poesy ! 
On wing of dawn and midnight they divine 
Within themselves, stars that are worlds ; and free 
Emotions that are seas ; for such there be 
Infinite spaces — to be filled and shine 
By selfhood's inmost revelation proved ; 
Ascended passions shriven of all pain ; 
Infinite nearness, — oft to be removed. 
Sufficing dazzled senses to regain 
A sure conception of the soul beloved 
Beyond all earth or time or death domain ! 



53 



DENIAL 

HIDDEN from thee the trembling of desire, 
The woman's weakness, swooning 'neath thine 
eyes — 
If so be lit in thee an altar fire 
To some wide flaming dream of sacrifice ! 
Let passion be of such restraint forgot 
That 'twixt thy God and thee, my heart beat not. 

Beloved, — step without the holy place ; 
And I, as some cathedral dim wherein 
Thy vows were made, will smile upon thy face, 
And know the old ensnaring joys of sin 
Through my denial, colder, lesser grow ; 
Holding the flesh in thrall till slow is born, 
Of lonely agony and spirit throe, 
A soul — the mated miracle of morn ! 



54 



IN DREAMS 

IN dreams we lost all hindering mortal sway, 
Inviolate of dawn, — or fealty sworn by day — 
Faithless in dreams ! 
The loving silence left us side by side — 

Beyond the wakeful wastes of longing, — 
satisfied, 
Faithful in dreams ! 
Melting and mingling, vanishing and blest — 
I scarce remembei", — lay your head upon my 
breast ? 
Fearless in dreams ; 
Nor when we meet so otherwise, forget 

How in the formless sorcery of sleep, we yet 
Were wed in dreams. 



55 



1^ 



HEAVEN 

ONLY to find Forever, blest 
By thine eucircling arm ! 
Only to lie beyond unrest 
In passion's dreamy calm. 
Only to meet and never part, 
To sleep and never wake — 
Soul unto soul and heart to heart ; 
Dead for each other's sake ! 



56 



AT LAST 

HAD I but dreamed, — as seers of old, O Love ! 
Each waste of yellow sand that stayed my 
feet, 
The moors in whose wide solitude I roved, 
Far lights of towns through which my pleasure 

sped, 
And risk of savage waves, uuhomed, unnamed, 
All led to thee ! 

Had I not run and sailed, 
Nor slept, nor hailed light pastime of the way? 
How strange ! I dallied with the Springtide oft- 
Forsook the bypath for the song of men. 
Kegret? Nay, rather grace to squandered joy, 
But for such devious adventuring 
Perchance I had not wandered here at last ; 
Or failing weariness and alien loves, 
Had never known that thou imprisoned wert 
More dear than all my fellow-revellers ; 
Whose echoes call me still from thy barred doors - 
Those jealous portals of another's heart ! 

Nor shall my voice disturb thy longing wild, — 
Enough to stand within the same small strip 

57 



AT LAST 

()r.sniili};ht, \y\uii; Mhwjirl llic pines :il dawn, 
"^riic s'.uuc moon shadow of llie WinUi dusk : 
Thy body and my sonl, a sraU^d cell 
l<\>r (Jod, onr jailer, lo scl IV<"e al will ! 



68 



MY 01:^1^ 



MY debt to Uicc is all of lilc made dear ; 
Service of day, vision of night 
Upliflcd to thine own far height. 
K'en inmiortalily throiigli thee grows clcai', 
Since lost in h)ve's workl with thee here 
I catch tlie meaning of that flight 
Of time, wlien lost in love's snprenu; (hlight 
I niiss noi' self, nor Ihee, in (iod's while feai'. 



69 



AN laRTlICRY 

nEAVEN must hold surpassing bliss 
If (Leie shall be no sea — 
How could lonji: leagues of joy for this 

(Compensate you and nic? 
Heaven must bournes unguessed contain 

If there shall be no night ; 
Would weary spiiits not disdain 

To win such bondage bright? 
If IK) dear heart beside us dwell 

In outworn love of sense, 
What mystic spirit parallel 

Could fully recompense'? 
Though Ihere shall be no tears to flow 

Nor ever parting be — 
And riod has promised to bestow 

Ilinisell", — eternally ! 



60 



AT THE LAST 

AH Love, with dear untruth deceive 
-tL Me not ! Nor loose the cord between thy 

heart and mine. 
Is the time come ? Do thou but cleave 

Me at one honest word ;— death has no anodyne ! 



61 



'IMMI'MPII 



VTWILKHI r :il Mm- inoniiii^'s Mood — 
A slini|)<'r shichiri" of I lie l)i<'alli - 
A slowiT ii\cr ill Ww I>1<>(mI - 
S«> I Ills so I his, is l>cal li. 



Now (Jo«l iil>o\c l»c jiisl ilit'«l ! 
And li\iiif;' Ijonc my wil iit'ss be, 
'Pliiil I I riiiiiipliaiil l(-:i\'(- tliv siilc 
MUcI lo «lu- lor Hue ! 

A rii|tliir«(l \ isioii of lli\ face 

A lu'anu'ss cUvscr on lliy hrt-asl — 
A SluMiM wnKliiii;; of spuw — 
'IMun I lir miiImoKcii \cs\. 



09 



MKia)'riMi<; 



rpilAT pitin w<- lii<l :t,w:i,y l:i.sl I'^iJI, 
I 'IMiitI ri<>/.<ii puiii hciMiilli IIm- snow 
Wliiil/'J Miisl il. jui.sw<r robiiM-all 
As Apiil livers overllow ? 
Did il bill sleep ciil r;i,iiee<l, l<) rise 
Willi lliis eoiivn!siv<t I liroh ;in;un '? 
fipHnjjj's iiutrey on I lie liciirl \vlier<- lies 
Tlic rnilliriil reslless se<<l of puiii ! 



PASSION AVEEK 

NOT with the world his passion week he kept, 
Nor at the shriue of crunibling martyrs wept ; 
But met alone his heart's Gethsemaue 
When May's green radiance nioeked his agony. 

Then Love first found liini, crowned him, bade him 
drink ; 

While risen rivers joyful kissed their brink — 
Light laughed the outward Spring for victory ! 

That through her smile his soul might shriven be. 



64 



ENVY 



OTHERS, O Love, may say good night 
Thongli we find niglit alone ; 
Only forbid our eyes Hie sight 
Of transport once our own ! 

The winds possess the mountain breast, 
The shadows win the stream, 

The brooding instinct mates with rest, 
As twilight with a dream. 

All else may say good night,— save we — 

For us nor hopes nor harms. 
At homing-time of memory 

Christ pity empty arms ! 



65 



WHOM DEATH DIVIDES 

THE broken-lieiii'ted cry, 
" Death will re- wed our sundered fate — 
We too shall die ! " 
To soothe a fettered mate 

Love sighs, — "Death cuts the marriage tie — 
Do thou but wait ! " 

Whom death divides, think ye death will unite, — 

Or but f()re\cr separate? 
Strange human hope that death can both requite ! 



66 



AFTERWARD 

FIRST, with dull sense and emi)ly brain 
Watching the swift-receding light, — 
Silent, lest voices put to flight 
Such memories as yet remain. 

Then, a fierce exile of the whole ; 
Each haunting vision to suppress, 
Till only wayward dreams confess 
The vital secret of the soul. 

At last, return to tasks once dear, — 
Forgotten in a golden haze ; 
And dreams as empty as tlie days 
To prove the Afterward is here. 



67 



u 



mi*:n and women 

(^W ill iiiosi wonuMi rcclvon incii ! 
'l\) liaiuls last boiiiul by bnidcns nol llicir 

OAVIl, 

Sliclcliiiin- soft palms; irsciil fill when 
riiiil bold iort' rank must slaiul or fall aloue. 

Mcv inward look misundorslands 
Too olt, llio hilllo|) of his w idcr \ icw — 

Oh that the bird of shadow lands 
Would spread her wings between the sun and dew ! 

Facing Ihe Morsl, lie liopi's I he besl ; 
Singing he works, while women l)id him pray — 

The wrong his busy arms arrest 
Her faith eommils unio a higher way. 

Her heart (or passion's answer eries 
Vnlo a heart, that lor Ionc's sake divides 

Delight with duty ; be he wise 
His soul a secret hid in self abides. 

Yet if she kiuM, — would (lod she knew ! 
Through solitude, through t\>ily and through 
strife. 

Her toneh keeps that lone spirit true 
And hers the gill men [)arl with last. — their life! 



LOHT AND lOrNI) 

rpiFK OIK- vvlio losl liiin, — (oiiiid 
i An idol, — ;il whose shriiu- 
J^'rcsli wical lis were; cvvv wound ; 
Whnc- slic did low incline 
'I'o swear old \'ows and pray old prayers. 
And she who won him, — losl. 
A j;'od for inoilaJ man ; 
Who all her lile lines <'rossed, 
Yd eiicled in his span 
Love's frnil, and (lower 'mid I he I arcs ! 
I<]aeli woman lu-ail snpremely hiesi, 
So salislie*! she love<l him l)csl. 



69 



BENEATH A COWL 

I TELL you none love women like a priest ! 
'Tis they who eat declare how poor food tastes, 
While we, with longing never satisfied, 
Would buy with blood the crumbs another 
wastes. 

For us no morning's tarnished afterward — 
Nor pale fidelity to hearts forsworn, 

For us no squandered lust on shrunken form — 
Nor jaded patience of reproach forborne. 

With bodies bowed before Maria's shrine, 

We clasp and loose and love at will, the dream 

Unmeasured by reality's lean rule — 
Of human love ; unknown, unowned, supreme. 

Though Death, I know, some night will lift the 
cowl 

The Church imposes on my shaven head, 
My hands unfolded grasp their liberty — 

Too late ! E'en saints in heaven may not wed. 

No, love of all earth's women must be ours. 

Since vows of chastity deny us one ; 
My knees grow Aveary as I kneel to pray — 

Ora pro nobis ! God's lone will be done. 



70 



AT VESPERS 

PASSIONATE cadence rising, 
Outlet of prisoned hearts — 
Whispers the woman thwarted, 
To the love of God, — that parts ! 
Veiled as her Eastern sister 
In the languid far harem — 
Bowed to her Master's worship 
The celibate dreams her dream. 
Captive of love's perversion ! 
The wide world calls in vain 
The scented nun of pleasure — 
The white-robed nun of pain. 



71 



HER EYES 

HER eyes are but the pathway strewn with 
dusk, 

Uuto the tropic jungle of her heart ; 
AVhere tawny tigers crouch, — and sAvit't still wings 

The red hibiscus part ! 
Her eyes are but the pathway o'er the sea, 

To far horizons voyag'd in wind and spray — 
Where 'nealh the rainbow's yet receding end 

I dreamed my Ireasure lay ! 
lUr eyes are but the hallowed pathway dear, 

Down loAcly aisles of fragrant mystery — 
In that high sanctuary of her soul, 

Whose altars gleam for me ! 



72 



FOR LOVE OF HER 

ONE wore a sword upon bis side 
And followed fiei'ce the Io\ e of war, 
O'er desert parched and prairie Mide — 
For love of her ! 

One wore a cross upon his breast 
And prayerful paced a narrow cell, 

While erring souls Ihrough him were blest— 
Beneath her spell ! 

And one, — another, made no sign, 
But worked and sung without demur, 

Nor spilled his secret cruse of wine — 
The love of her ! 

Unconscious Mistress ! Boon oi- curse, 
Her lovers love her, feel her spur— 

And I — have made this little verse 
For love of her ! 



73 



A FACE 

NOT beauty in that wayward guise 
Compelling pi-aise I'roui youth's swift 
eyes; 
But sacred loveliness thou hast, 
Like ruins of a perfect past ! 



74 



WAITING 

THE blood but feebly gropes, 
The breathing slows — 
The heart still hopes 
Although the head well knows 

He will not come ! 
Listen ! Now pulsing bold 
Hope's own false morn 
Leaps hot, — sinks cold; 
Must Joy's child be still-born? 
Down fades the waning light — 
IJespaiiing giown 
Each wild sweet fright 
Leaves one at last alone. 
At footfall of the rain 
Hope joins the race 
With fear again ; 
Echoes the wind's swift pace? 
Ah no ! Among the vines 
Both wind and rain, 
As day declines, 
Mourn Love's long watch in vain. 

He will not come ! 
76 



WAITING 

Ah Cod ! lie comes, He comes! 

Darkiiciis is bliss 

Beyond the sun's 

For sake of one hot kiss ! 

Go day! He comes ! 



76 



A falla(;y 

PITY for Oinar! 
Whose i>iik' ;i(;('X'nl.s spell 
Thiit ''I myself :iin lieaveii or liell" ! 
Who in no (l(;aier' self lull h e'er diseeined 
A heaven transfigured, or a hell that burned ! 



77 



JOY 

HATT;! Hail Joy, 
'V\w wild glad tenor of .Joy ! 
SJiaking the tense iindci-striiigs of the heart, 
Teiiriii^' the ninilms of sorrow ap;irl,, 
8i)riiig's toi<'h wiiigi'd madrigal boy ! Hail Joy ! 
The reveller Joy ! 

Hail ! Hail Joy, 

Thy kisses are slinging and sweet ! 
Herald of hoveling sky-dreams above, 
l)rnid< of Ihy height as of wine or of love, 
Life reels 'ueath thy Inniinons feet! Hail Joy ! 

Delirions Joy ! 

Mail ! Hail Joy, 

Keen on the l)reast as a sword ! 
Smiting Ihe blood to a race with tliiue own, 
Till Ihe spirit shonis as a trumpet blown 
Al the pagan lips of a god — "Hail Joy ! 
Hosanna to Joy ! 
Hail lover of i)assions and pleasures! 
Of raptures and tremors and measures 
Hlusive, and shadow embraces ! 
llail ]>laymate of satyrs and sunbeams 
and graces ! 
Hail vagrant eeleslial ! Hail Joy ! " 



78 



TO MUSIC 

rpnOIJ moi-e llian love, that liiif^^ers but to die ; 
1 Thou moi'c IJiaii lilc, tliat swill, is boin again ! 
Thou poppy witch whose brew leleaseth pain, 
Whose breath is sweeter tlian the hjtiis sigli ! 
Thou queen of gypsy heaits and laneies shy, 
Of loves untried and undreamed seas lojig lain 
At Hood of eeslasy, wheie thon dost reign 
A moon of passion in sujjremaey ! 

Thou Circe of men's buried souls, who leap 
To break their eeieinents cold at voice of thee, 
Bolder than spells of old magician sleep 
The glad illusion of thy wizard ly ! 
Vestal or lemptress, all Ihy slaves to keep. 
Angel or criminal thou makest me ! 



79 



TITK HAND 

riMIFi baud all ])ilil(.s.s s()iii;lil (»iil my licart — 
L T1h)Iij:;Ii pU'iisiirt" ran allamil ;inu»ii,n llic lioriis, 
A vibiaiil misciy dkl naked shiinU 

Hcnoalh her llcry foolslcp shod willi I horns. 
The steady drnni, as sonir old duly dulled 

iiaibaric ra[)lnrrs kindled in her hack; 
Jlowcver clauiorous the faulare soared, 

A wailiiij; under-ery did snah'h nie back 
To earth, — wliere passion sank to pain of nerves 

ICxcited to the quick ; tlie llesh undone 
Amid the tyrannous debiinch of sound, 

Tliose swooninjjj melodies lh;d kiss and stun ! 

As one ^vho buried comrades, —youth :uh1 joy, — 

And with hisjaded rej;iment did hear 
Tir aceuslonied (piickstep o'er the lomly j;ra\e, 

'I'o check with nun-kery a nu)rtal tear, 
1 follow on behintl the l)and ! ^'ow 'lis 

Within uiy breast, — the heart-beat of the drum ; 
Now 'lis the brass that strikes me down ; before 

\N'iu)se bloodless l)ayonets swift overcome, 
The deadened senses yiehl their last defence, 

And for escape I lift a ciaveu hand ; 
"Dear Ood ! forbid not hell's just waj^e of tlanie. 

But uuto me, a sinner, spare the band ! '' 



80 



TRISTAN AND ISOF.DE 

QWTFT lo ciicli ollu'i' llicy iiisli hliiidly on — 
^ ^ Like Iwo I liimiphaiil, hrcMSlcd wiivcs, Ihiil 

sweep 
III glad green eurliiig iciguii Joy ii[)(ni 
The curl )les.s impulse of iiii niiknowii dec|», 
TTiilil llu-ir goiil I iiiiiull nous is won. 
Piissioicile l>re:ikers lli:il iiiiist run :in<l lc:ip 
To rae(^l llie <looin lor wliieli llieir hejinly slioiie ; 
Kxnllanl, vielinis oC releiilU-ss neap, — 
All Ireacliery ! "IMs done ; lliey blend, lliey break ! 
And liearlU'SS seas of being drink again 
Tli(^ gleiiining eresis alhirsl lo How as one ; 
While glilh'iing across I lieir sliall('re<l wake, 
A mere rorgt'irnl Hood of shapeless main — 
Mocks I he cold splendor of ;i, rising siin ! 



81 



8 



MUSICIAN TO rOET 

IPARE me one iiiglit ! One soft dark Sninnier 
^^ night 

Beloved of niotli and wakeful daring flowei'. 
When the young moon is set, and drenclicd with 

dew 
Belated night winds nesi in yielding leaves — 
Of all you give to slcej), choose one for nie ! 
Not for sureease, or idleness, or \:\\u 
Desire, I pray, — but that mere music have 
llci- disembodied way with man and pocl. 
Until his brealli be sweet for sake of her. 
And through his future singing well she may, 
As wild Undine, (ind her human soul. 
Steal one strange hour from dream's 

bewilderment. 
And one, more passionalc, fiom tears, and one 
From Hashing tarns of memory, and more 
From those hushed shadows of oblivion, 
Whose cliffs Jut eastward in the seas of dawn — 
Where none shall miss you if you never eonu' ; 
Then, with the silence close infolding us. 
For one short Summer nigld but let me play ! 



MUSICIAN TO POET 

Release the tidal liarmouies that How 
Across our thirsty being's thwarted course ;- 
All Love's accei)tance of her fierce duress ; 
All Power's self-destroying impotence ; 
Glories of Terror ! And the undertones 
Returning oft and over to caress 
With sonnet intricacy, dear to sound ; 
The lyrics never taken on our lips — 
The epic i)risoned in heroic chords — 

Till Day retuj-n, in jealousy to rouse 
Her glad monotony of birds and chide 
Us spirit wanderers, and set our feet 
Upon the level rhythm of steady spheres ! 



83 



A^ 



A TA A'OIX 

SOB, a sigh, a whispering — 
A cry of bird on beating wing — 
A fragrance wafted oft' a rose — 
A thrill, a throb, — as dreaming knows ! 
Now from the rose her love-sweet leaves are falling 
The echoes of all singing faint depart. 
Across the night give ear unto her calling, 
*'Thy voice hath kissed the petals olV my heart ! " 
A sob, a sigh, a Avhisi>eriug — 
A hint of passion on the wing — 
A crimson tremor from the rose — 
Good night ! Good-by ! So dreaming- 
goes. 



84 



WERE I some little melody, 
I'd leave tlie keys 
And trembling boAv my head upon your knees ; 
Were I a song, no lips but j^ouisi 

My life should take ; 
Were I some mighty chord, I'd break 
From master hands to shock your heart awake ! 
Were I one high pure note with heaven for goal, 
I'd die ofjoy to rise within your soul. 



85 



TO A VOICE 

HEART, sang thou thyself to me, 
Or all mine inmost depths to thee ? 
Becalmed upon thy voice I lie, 

Who drown and listen, — thine for aye ! 

Yet there is more to sing, — oh more ! 

The fleetest frigate off sleep's shore. 
In thy most seaward-going dream, 

Shall bear thee less of Merlin gleam, 

Than mystery and charm and pain 

That wait thy call, — nor wait in vain — 

Where love doth wake in woman's eyes 
To greet thy passion's crimson skies ! 

O Love, thy waves leap over me — 

Far out upon their harmony. 
Becalmed upon thy voice I lie. 

Who drown and listen, — thine for aye ! 



86 



THE GOD OF SONG 

THE God of Song — of soug impassioned, tense 
and low and love-distilled — 
Of song supreme, aflame, heroic ; the God of 
Song desire-filled. 
Lifting his voice above the nncleared wilderness 
of ecstasy. 
Circled a heart with ambient fire ! 

E'en as Wotan, charmed he 
His own, — from all sweet sounds or tender, — pity 
or sobs or laughter — 
Murmurs of men or threat of thunder ; doomed 
it forever after 
To beat alone unto the rhythmed memory of his 
delight ; 
While as the guardians of his spell, flash Orphean 
echoes bright ! 



87 



A SOITL TO A VOICE 

OTIIOU divine intruder, 
Who thronj^li the life-blood stole 
To si)urn the heart's old highway, 
And haunt a ravished soul ! 

Thy wings part soft my breathing, 
And where thou seekest rest, 
No other e'er shall venture 
Till Death explore my breast. 

Within my inmost being, 
AVhere only (Tod may go — 
What bliss to trust thy spirit 
To tremble to and fro ! 



88 



A LOVE-SONG 

1L0VE thee as a wild bird loves the sky — 
ller silent radiant licaven of flight ! 
Breaking her heart in song for thy deliglit, 
High o'er the world, to glad thee and reqnile 
Her silent radiant heaven of flight. 
I love thee as a wild bird loves the sky ! 

1 lov^e thee as a wild biid Ioacs the sky ! 
'Neath cottage eaves when swallows drop to 
rest — 
The roaming gidl on sea-girt crags may nest — 
The eagle deem hei' snllen eyrie best — 
'Neath cottage eaves when swallows drop to lesl 
I love thee as a wild bird loves the sky ! 

I love thee as a wild bird loves tlie sky ! 
Far, far below — for her nor nest nor mate, 
Her wings will never droop, — in vain they 

wait — 
The sunset flies of dying day, her fate ; 
Far, far below — for her nor nest nor mate, 
I love thee as a wild bird loves the sky ! 



89 



TUK VOICE OF ISRAFEL 



ISRAFEL calls her from his upper white ! 
Swift torn the iiiosh that held her llutterinti- 
Forgot llie snare that lured her beating wing - 
Israfel calls her with his song of light ! 

Once nu>re her pinions cut her native air 
To bear tier as a spirit soaring, where 
Israfel calls her from his radiant height ! 



90 



TO PAIN 

DEAR hnman Harp, why must God's liancl 
atlune 
Thy passioned strings, celestial -keyed, to pain? 
Did the old marvels of the sun and moon, 
Of love and joy, smite on thy breast in vain? 
From anguish only is the ravishing 
Of strains unlicard, Keats vaunted sweetest far, 
And thou, the cliosen instrument to sing 
The lonely rapture of his spirit's star? 
No voice within thy chord, from discord wrung, 
Ilath Joy ; — submerged, forgot — her siren lute 
Borne by small Loves, with roses overhung 5 
The slow vibrations of her heart are mute 
When high o'er blade of bliss thy notes arise 
Mid pain-taught nightingales of Paradise ! 



91 



AN ECHO OF THE ORCHESTRA 

THE footfall of the cellos 'cross my heart, 
The wood- wind as it listeth wauderiug — 
The zenith flight of vibrant violins 
That raise the eyes to Summers of delight ; 
The losing self on streams of harmony, 
Whose curving currents lap the senses round 
Till surging maelstroms seize them, — hold them 

strong 
Against a swift chromatic undertow ; 
While from the massing cloud of tone sustained 
Elusive lightnings shimmer from the harp — 
The horns deplore — the viols importune — 
O'er whose ascendant cadences prevails 
The chaos of the cymbals and the drum ! 

Not Love itself is so possessed of Spring, 
To overflow the sunken shore of life 
And lift a gleaming flood to nameless stars, 
As this Slavonic wooing of the brass, 
Or this enamoured mating of the strings ! 



92 



CLIMAX 

DEAD at the climax ! 
Music, color, love, 
Mounting in triple blazoned majesty ; 
Gift of the Gods all other gifts above, 
So fell the golden Greeks of tragedy ! 
Now, while the trumpets knock upon the gates ; 
Now, while the crash of brass intoxicates ! 
Dead at the climax ! This is victory ! 
His overturned chariot wins the race. 
As Death's voice sweeps the field where mortals 

flee, 
And hoarse with blood-stained triumph cries, 

"Give place !" 
Dead at the climax ! While with life elate, 
Dead at the climax ! O supremest fate ! 



93 



. INACTION 

UNTO the soldier uursed by murder's breath, 
More terrible than cannon roar or death — 
The bloodless waiting on a foeless field. 

Where Night and Peace lean low on double 
shield. 



94 



THE WATCHER 

ipROM towered battlement I sweep the plain, 
-L And smite the heights of hope with eager 
cry — 

Who wears the crown? Who lie among the slain 1 
No harbinger as yet against the sky. 

The future sleeps in night's dark hostelry ; 

A watcher lone, I sound my bugle-call 
To speed the chance— whate'er the tidings be— 

With soul erect though coward strongholds fall. 

The echo wafts no signal from the breeze, 

Each wakeful star a sentry's challenge gleams ; 

Behind me are the silent certainties, 
Around me rise the silver mists of dreams. 

God of the plain, what bidding wilt Thou send ? 

Again in vain I scan the dim highway— 
Shall sword or sceptre mark the vigil's end ? 

God of the hills, art Thou for peace or fray? 

At last ! Across the ridge I see him leap 
And fly on wing of light unto my gate ; 
Hail, runner Day ! Well spurned the fields of 
sleep. 
Thou dauntless sun-clad servitor of fate ! 
95 



THE WATCHER 

Put off thy sandals, while, with bars flung wide, 
I meet thy weal or woe on bended knee. 

Hail, runner Day ! whatever may betide 
From out the regal hand of destiny. 



96 



BEFORE THE BATTLE 

WHEN as a hero he must meet grim hordes, 
Relentless nerve him on to victory ! 
Kindle the naked flash of hostile swords. 

Those blades that lust for such as he ! 
Speak not of pity or of coming peace, 

ISTor stay him up on strains of sympathy ; 
Admit no chance of unforeseen release, 

Nor soothe with balms of memory ; 
But sharper press the combat's exigence. 

Measure the certainty of overthrow. 
Bid him God -speed, each muscle strained and 
tense ; 
Trust him the more if desperate the foe ! 



97 



''THE AVORLD FORGOT" 

NOT cloistered saints, tliat bid the world 
Remember tliey forget — its lure defy, 
Whose abnegating robes accost the glance 

Of lost humanity ; 
Not they whose moving lij)s attest 

Repeated prayer, to shame the throng or mart, 
Are Thy sM'ift followers alone, 

Sw^eet Christ ! Unveiled, untonsured, they 
there be 
Who hold their miry brothers to their heart, 

Even for love of Thee, 
Who didst remember to the end 

Thy w orld, though they had Thee forgot and 
fled — 
A hillside Calvary Thy holy lot. 
Mountain and sea Thy bed. 



A LAST APPEAL 

WHAT wilt Thou of me, Lord? 
Wlioin Thon hast made 
To dumbly sit beside the cottage door, 
Entered and passed by lusty traffickers 
Of work and joy, — even as I of yore. 
What wilt Thou of me. Lord? 

Too weak to toil, 
Too hoarse to sing, — with eyes that fail to greet 
Beyond the shadow of a sheltering wall. 
Life clotted thick against the heart's frail beat, 
Misshapen to the avarice of youth. 
And shattered by strange forms of suffering. 
Left fumbling at the latch of Thine intent, 
A contradiction of returning Spring. 
What wilt Thou, Lord, 

With this dull image of 
Thyself, — this mere obstruction in the i)ath? 
A symbol of long patience unto men. 

Or sign of wrath ? 



LofC. 

99 



THE VIGIL 

WHILE others slept, — a soul leaned o'er the 
wilderness of night ; 
Past faith in God, — aloof from human love ; with 

sight 
For one void instant bared unto the ice-lit North, 

to guess 
At man's design and some hid certainty possess. 
Eenouncing all save self, — from out that lone 

sublimity 
It gathered Godhood ; saw itself unmasked, to be 
A matchless entity ; for fear, and life and death to 
dread ! 
Then the clairvoyant solitude of terror sped. 



100 



THE DOUBTER 

WHY wilt thou haunt me thus, thought of 
God? 
Leave me my doubt unwakened by thy dawn ; 
Desire disowns thy love or chastening rod — 
Night is for revel, day for rest. Begone ! 
My heart seeks not forgiveness or to share 
Thy searing mysteries ; leave me to doubt. 

Art thou still near ? I feel thy presence dare 
My bravest mocking, — track my silence out. 
What if my truest doubt did but blaspheme ? 
God ! Were I saint, — or fiend to bid thee go ! 
That I believe, O Heaven, let me dream — 
Or from thy fear let doubt a respite know ! 



101 



A CRADLE-SONG OF FAITH 

SLEEP well, young Faitli, sleep well ! 
Doubt shall not raise o'er thee his ugly head, 
Doubt is forever dead 

To thee, — so rest thee well ! 
Sleep well, calm Faith, sleep well ! 
Witliin thy dreams the shepherds saw a star. 
Follow its pathway fai". 

So with thee all be well ! 
Sleep well, tried Faith, sleep well ! 
Rise brave begirt when Dawn shall call 
Her certain warriors ; thou shalt not fall. 

The night is shoit ; sleep well ! 
Sleep well, old Faith — Mis well 
With thee ! Old Faith shall young awake ; 
Love, Hope nor Destiny their promise break ! 

Sleep well, old Faith, sleep well 



102 



PERVERSION 

A SHIP that drowns, ingulfed by waves on 
whicli it sped ; 
A sword with rust upon the blade ; 
A brain where past creations hover o'er their dead ; 
A trustful heart through love betrayed. 
Let us die comrades, on the wave, 
Our swords drawn keen. 
Our brains alive the land to save. 
Our love still clean ! 



103 



JUDGMENT 



SIN crouching cried, 



O ''Behold a serpent with a flaming tongue, that 

doth deride 
Me at the gate that spans my pathway wide ! " 

"Ah, blessed eyes ! " 

Cried Purity, — " an angel at the door of Paradise ! 

Unto her lilies white my spirit flies ! " 



104 



A PRAYER 

FOR sin long ages since begun, 
From father's father unto sou, 
For pride inborn, and careless wrong, 
For lust of life when youth beat strong, 
Forgive, God — remorse is long ! 

For sin through bleak discouragement, 
For sin with better motives blent, 
For others' sake, in love's dear stress. 
But most for sin through loneliness, 
O God, forgive — forgive and bless ! 



105 



BEWAKE AN EMPTY HEART 

I DROVE out hot desire, 
I put my love away, 
I burned my gods in fire — 
What host shall I obey? 

I dare not brave delay, 
Lest old charms o'er me throng - 
An Orpheus swift, I pray ! 
To dull the siren's song. 

Bring sweeter airs for sweet ! 
Bring wider dawns for day ! 
Void hearts enticing beat 
To homeless lusts alway. 



106 



LIFE'S SCHOOL 

IN life's strange school I heard Pain call my 
name, 
And prayed to be excused ; — no answer came — 
A childish lesson just a moment long, 
A sigh, a tear, instead of my old song — 

Then sterner tasks were set me o'er and o'er ; 
At last I stood beside the open door, 
A master of the laws of grief ; proud borne 
As jewels by some stately order worn. 

Only one mighty test was left : to hear 

Another called, whose name, of all names dear, 
Left courage weary, strength of no avail. 

And smote rebellious blood to cheeks long pale ; 
The crncifixial hour bids me depart, 
And claims submission for a dearer heart ! 



107 



IN HIS IMAGE 

THE starry heavens brokenly reveal 
Their beanty when on tossing waves outspread ; 
As warring hearts the face of God conceal, 
That lies reflected on our tranquil dead ! 



108 



WHAT THE GULL HEARD 

THE FIRST BOAT 

OH to be out on the open sea ! 
Bride of the waves and veiled in their foam ! 
Rotted the beam and the sail will be — 
Anchoring here at home. 

THE SECOND BOAT 

Oh to be over the harbor bar ! 

Safe from the perils that crash and yawn ; 
Tattered in shroud and mangled in spar, — 

I shall go down ere dawn ! 



109 



SOUNDING 



AWHILE delayed the voyage ou life's high 
■1^ sea — 

That hearts may gauge the drowned deeps 
below ; 
Slow days of sounding — unto which men owe 
The wreckage saved, and course of victory ! 



110 



RESTRAINT 

AS ocean, drawing back too restless tides 
J^ That would be wandering beyond worn 

boundaries, 
Feels in the tumult, as her turning flood subsides, 

The uncurbed longing of her chafing seas ; 
After a mighty moment, souls draw up their sheath 
Of swift reserve ; shrinking from conscious 
certainty 
Of that recurring impulse throbbing deep 
beneath — 
Resisting fierce all human mastery ! 



Ill 



THE INEVITABLE 

HE shrank and wondered, cup at lip, 
Since joy the brew he counled best ; 
Then half demurred. '' Nay, drink !" quoth 
Life— 
A cloud hid all the West. 

'^ The cup is deep, the potion strange — 
Nor was it meant for me ! " he cried. 

The darkness fell, but Life remained, 
Wliile fierce he strove and sighed. 

Thrice raised the cup, thrice let it fall — 
No vintage this of Nature's vine ! 

At last, compelled by Life's strong hand, 
He drained the bitter wine. 

One groan for boyhood's bubbling spring. 
Then, — '' If this cup be meant for me, 

My manhood at the brim !" he pledged — 
Alike the bead and lee. 



112 



A DOUBLE GRIEF 

rpHE heel of one supreme, confessed despair - 
A One sorrow, face to face without relief, 
No son of woman could disdain or bear. 

Lighter the burden of a double grief ! 
That he may shift from side to side, and dare 

A snatch of song in respite brief. 



113 



THE NIGHT-WATCH 



MARK you those kiudliiig eyes with love-light 
brave — 
The buoyant step and flash of laughter gay 1 
Bright burn the bonfires of a human heart, 
To hold the wolves of memory at bay ! 



114 



WASTED 

TO speak, oft is to raise the lid 
Where lifelong treasuries are hid ; 
To break the glass of loving days 
Along the blasphemous highways ; 
To strip the sacred garlands fair 
And leave our highest altars bare, — 
Dishonoring the heart's high priest 
To spread a moment's idle feast 
For faithless eyes and careless ears, 
That desecrate the hoarded years ! 



115 



THE CRY OF A THOUGHT 

TOO lately risen from chaotic mind, 
With naked consciousness but dimly stirred - 
Transfiguration tremblingly divined, 
Touch me not yet by breath's defiling word ! 

Leave me a hidden infancy to haunt 
The twilight spaces of the unexpressed ; 
Nor wrest a gauzy shade to idly flaunt 
As misbegotten fancy of thy breast. 

My rainbows fade before thy holden eyes, 
My harpstrings break upon thy busy loom ; 
Speech ponderous plods where frail conception 

flies — 
Must unembodied thought the flesh assume ? 



116 



THE POET 



AT dead of uiglit he melts old joy, old truth, old 
Xa. paiu, 

Through his new soul, and runs new forms of light ; 
Till battered jewels, dull and marred, reset again, 
Keceive new lustre to enchant our sight. 



117 



INHERITANCE 

JUST as a lordly father might o'erwhelm 
A son with full possession of his realm, — 
Vineyards of fruitage fair and forests dim, 
Streams, friends and sov'reignty once dear to him,— 
So Time has toiled since light through chaos ran^ 
Despoiling each successive age of man 
To mass a proud inheritance for thee. 

Heir of the nineteenth century ! 
Art in her ermined pageantry, 
And Thought grown deeper than a lone high sea 
Lapping the tropic shoi'es of Poesy, 
And Music, mistress of the gods — all, all ! 
The regal subjects of thy listless call. 
The blue blood of the ages courses free 
Within thy veins ; the sphinx waits on for thee. 
Shall no new star respond to blue Chaldee, 
Whose shepherds scan the sky for prophecy ? 
For thee law, war and peace did giant strife 
Through love and martyrdom to crown thy life. 

Barbaric splendor lit the overthrow 
Of dynasties forgot, for thee ! Then go ! 
Tear the slow moss away that does but hide 
A roll of ancestry whose deathless pride 
Is thine ! Behold the tombs whose ashes wrought 
To earn the kingdoms lightly set at naught ! 



118 



^JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING" 

EVENING, for weariness, draws in 
Unfinislied toil, half-hearted play, 
Life's armor worn exceeding thin 
By the rough conflict of the day. 

Evening leads home from hope's high steep 
Lone flocks of disappointments sad ; 

Unsatisfied we fall asleep. 

Nor even pray to waken glad. 

But in the morning there is light ! 

Love's heart against the world beats strong, 
Joy breathes across the glooms of night. 

And out of darkness lifteth Song ! 

Then with the dawn doth valor rise. 
To langh at all it vowed to bear, 

While writ in glory on the skies 
Is answer to the doubter's i^rayei*. 



119 



"THINGS UNSEEN" 

DAWNS with their dew and midnights burnt 
with stars — 
Eternal passions that from heaven lean — 
New goals that rise along thine inmost heart, 
Be unto thee a pledge of things unseen ! 



120 



CLEARED 

WHILE yet in sight, lie knew nor saw our faces 
straining seaward from the shore ; 
Hoarsely we hailed, but distance blurred our breath j 

signals were shown : we spoke no more. 
Framed dark against a stormy sky, his boat was 

mutely set for outward-bound ; 
Baffled by eyes that would not let him go, — until 

the trembling world seemed drowned, — 
As limitless the vacillant offing, all her shivering 

space outspread 
Between us and our fading mariner — voyaging 

impassive with the dead. 

Up, Love ! Across wide silences thy valiant 

pinions try ! 
Companion this pale wayfarer, who sleeps 

but cannot die. 
Thou and the sun shall lead him o'er the 

gold horizon line, 
Where crimsoning dreams crown dusty duties 

— red vintage of a weary vine. 
121 



CLEARED 

O Death ! AVe stood in sbiulow of thy great 

reality ; we could uot slay 
The eraviiiii; of dead hands, — too frail for this 

Avoi'hUs toil, untaught in that world's play ! 
A¥an captives of thy listless calm, — strangely 

disburdened of all mortal cares, 
That lay from Fate's cold talfrail dumb outstretched 

in listless longing, as faint prayers : 
Helpless as old-time tenderness — aloof on thy 

remote and wider way. 
That flows through incommunicable darkness to 

the coast of breaking day ! 

But wrapped in royal jiurple of majestic 

mystery — 
He heard, far out, the shoreless music of his 

soul's lone sea. 
His earthly neighboring complete, serene he 

drifted back ; 
To him the brotherhood of stars — for us the 

courage of his vanislied track ! 



122 



VALE! 

NOW let the frosty sentence pass ! 
For I have garnered asters in my sonl, 
To blnr with sentiment the slolid year 
Beyond the hirgess of their puri)le dole. 
And I liavewrnng llie life-blood from the honrs, 
Forgot old pain amid tlu* rnssel wold^ 
Steeped love in azure and immensity, 
And bui-ned regret in scarlet and in gold. 
Venlnrcd Ihe circle of the liazcl wilcli, 
And claimed of gusty winds bluif brotherhood — 
And buried in my heart a rain -wet path 
That led to sunset Iniid Ihiongh a wood. 
Amid gray embers one hot hope is lit — 
A torch unto a loyal memoiy, 
And through the l)ciiis<)n of dying leaves 
Blows my consent unto the chill decree. 
Now is all proi)hccy fnl filled ! 
Thy ruslling foolfall, Aulumn, bear thee soon 
Within the dim, unmeasured hills of Time, 
Led by the waning of the hnnter's moon ! 



123 



ZERO 

OITT from her lair of night 
The Winler day 
Draws her ooki, shining sides, 

To seek her prey. 
Peril attends her tread ; 

Her feet of snow 
l*nrsne the wanderer ; 

To life a foe. 
Her blow is silent sirnck, 

Frost is her breath — 
Her eyes Hash ieieles, 

Her trail is death. 
Slow to her eoverl dark 

8he slinks away, 
Snnuner\s hot hnnlsmen still 

Holding at bay. 



124 



THE RAIN 

NO. joy for hei- in I owns — no blessing of the 
g]'onn(] 
Oi- gialcCiilncss of beiisl ! Tlie heedless traflic 
drowned 
Her voice, and towered walls destroyed hei- lu-ad- 
long fall ; 
She missed the sound of i-ivers rising lo her call, — 
The open fields, — in wandering the path of men, 
Fretted by paltiy bar and narrow hindrance. 
Then, 
Finding small welcome and no love to gieet her 
there. 
Cheated of joy, this wilful comrade of the air 
l<\nsook the iron-hearted town and lan to find 
'I'lic sea — leaning aslant the lough arm of the 
wind. 
That tossed the ships to harboi\s of his whim, and 
tore 
The waves from their deep courses, (lii\ ing them 
offshore 
Till leagues of reeling fathoms gathered to their 
rout. 
High o'er the din of roaring breakers blew the 

shout 

126 



THE RAIN 

Of wilder hurricaues with black wings wide in 
flight ; 
Only the stars escaped the tumult of the night — 
While unrestrained in space she wreaked her 
stormy glee 
In tempest carnivals with frenzied wind and sea ! 



126 



THE MARSH 

SHE braids her hair of brown 
With ribbons of the sea, 
And all the lands lean down, 
Approach, on bended knee. 

Her cheek with dawn is flushed. 

Horizons tremble there ; 
Through years of nights deep hushed. 

The stars have found her fair. 

The sea-gull's brigand breast 

Is never false to her, 
The distant tide's unrest 

Her sunburnt mem'ries stir. 

Her soul is in midstream ; 

She listens — till she hears 
The waves brim o'er her dream. 

As jealous Ocean nears. 

She leads him through the maze 

Of all her waiting charms, 
Nor yields her wonder ways 

At once unto his arms ; 
127 



THE MARSH 

A lover wild the sea, 
A bride upon the shore - 

Salt winds for certainty, 
And ebb-tide as before ! 



128 



KEVOLT 

iS the sea to her rocks — that refuse her — 
J\- Cast her back on her desolate passion, 
Repel her besieging caress, her hours 
Of sinuous languor — my heart to thy 
Feet, unwavering coast-guard of silence ! 

Faint in the ebb — from the outermost reef 
How her surge lifts the threat of her thunder ! 
How she gathers her emerald powers 
Of ocean, to batter the breakwater, — 
That cuts her, and tears her, — her jewelled robe 
Frayed ; her green plumes betrayed of their glory, 
Hurled to the floor of her dungeon — then up ! 
And with vengeance unsated, back to her 
Cruel desire. Compelled by a craving 
Unslaked, — known of two in the universe, — 
Sea unto crag ; my heart to its pleasure ! 

In the sensuous lull of the moonlight, 
In the unyielding glare of the noontide, 
In her desperate calms, as in tempest, 
Stand her crags ; mute, and ever withholding ; 
All unmoved by her hoarse protestation ; 
Restraining her never to brim on their 
Bosom ; resisting her ever — and yet 
In her madness possessing her wholly — 
As my heart is beset of thee, only ! 



129 



A GOLDEN DAY 

A LL art, all music that dreams obey, 
-t\ Beckou me back to one golden day ; 
A golden day where memory swoons, 
Captive between two sentinel moons. 

A happier day I never knew — 
'Tis mine as a prisoner in blue, 
A hostage to swift invading pain, 
A sunbeam lighting long nights of rain ; 
Like a brave prayer when I cannot pray 
My heart turns back to that golden day — 
When beauty exhaled a silent balm 
Plooding love's restless heart with calm. 
Your words and fancies, your voice and eyes, 
Were part of the liquid Summer skies, 
And every throb your life-blood told ' 

Was set in quivei-ing Autumn gold. 
I saw 'twas singing itself away — 
Wonderful, pitiless golden day ; 
I knew 'twas held by our bated breath, 
Smiling the radiant smile of death ; 
Yet mine is a regal fate, I say. 
Blind in the light of a golden day ! 



130 



AN AUGUST AFTERNOON 

SCARCE in her topmost branches Nature 
breathes ; 
Brooding quiescent mysteries, her spent 
Airs rii^ple leisurely through passive trees, 
Whose tremulous leaves, in fervent freshness green, 
Whisper their cool elusive subtleties, 
As in and out her counsels wind their flight 
Down bowered ways of sultry mist, on vague 
And serious concerns of forestry. 
Too languorous for smiles, — too faint for tears, — 
Drenched in an aromatic memory 
Of rainbow showers, passionate and past, 
A lyric silence lies upon the hour ; 
A wide white silence ; slumberous ; becalmed : 
As Earth's old step had faltered,— slowed to rest,— 
Then pausing, ceased ; hushed in her orbit's song. 
Now is the August- hearted wafted soft 
Within the drowsy grace of siren arms. 
Where, as to seaward sailors, swaying pines 
Stretch forth their plumy darkness unto him, 
And murmur of a grotto drowned in sleep — 
Beneath a cave whose tinted walls of shell 
And wave-hid door are flooded o'er with dreams ! 



131 



^W! 



OUT OF THE NORTH 

BLOW, ye dread gales ! I beg thee, Winter, stay ! 
Hencefortli the chosen fellow of my sonl ! 
As vassals of my solitude, thy winds — 
These hardy Norsemen of thy hostelry. 
The dilly-dally Spring no kinsman more 
Of mine — since Time hath lost the secret of 
That seed, whose blossom was Love's miracle, 
Whose fragrance was a full-blown madness sweet. 

The traitor south wind blew it overseas 
Mayhap, on airs of fickle blandishing ; 
Rough foemen I may send, to gather back 
In wild tornado clans the scattered charm 
Of gladder days — but rather would I dwell 
Apart from all that once was passing dear ; 
Bleak voices of the sea my Summer bird ; 
The frozen moor by storm-wrack overcast. 
My flowery lea ; an ancient race of pines 
My feudalty. A knight, disarmed by Life ; 
Within a moated personality ! 



132 



MYSTERIES 

WHEN afternoon's each shadow cleft 
With golden liquor fills^ 
Is there a heartache in my breast 
Or on the wistful hills! 

Smitten with color as with death, 

Were I thus stricken faint 
Of Spring's desire and Fall's consent, 

Save they for thee made plaint ? 

Or wert thou with us yet, dear Love, 
With thy sweet spirit's stress 

Would russet Autumn tinge her charm ? 
Her poignancy be less ? 

Parted, each leaf-strewn stream dotli run 
To thee ! The day doth wait ; 

For thine own vivid sake become 
A love-mood animate. 

Green ways beyond their pasture -bars. 

Aglow with absence dyes. 
Appeal for haunting yesterdays 

As unto homesick eyes. 
133 



MYSTERIES 

When glories of I he afternoon 

Comj>el the bnining west, 
Is there a rapture on the hills 

Or only in my breast? 

When stars renew the faith of heaven 

And dreams lie far at sea, 
Art thou within the hush of night 

Or in the soul of me ? 



134 



DEVONSHIRE POPPIES 

HERE, one peers lonely through a gate 
Pink-coated huntsman, pack astray ; 
There, turbaned courtiers of state 
Are blurred in carnival array. 
As scarlet acrol)ats they run 
To vault the hedgerow's mystery, 
Leaping fantastic in the sun, 
A blaze of Nature's jugglery. 
Like Highland troopers others pass. 
With kilt of flame and tunic green — 
Their bonnets blowing in the grass, 
Their piper's skirl a lark unseen. 
Will-o'-the-wisp of Summer noons. 
They flit 'mid haymakers at rest. 
And up the path of harvest moons. 
Are lost o'er sunset's gleaming crest. 



135 



THE SONG OF THE CAMELLIA 

AH, pity lue — a flower dumb ! 
±jL The lilac is of Quaker speech. 
The flushiug oleauder from 

Her foreign lips doth soft beseech ; 
The jasmine on the convent wall, 

The pale arbutus forest-hid, 
The novice lilies chaste and tall. 

In fragrance speak — to me foibid. 

The rose is love articulate, 

The rustic pink doth spicy woo ; 
With purple eloquence innate 

The violet doth each outdo. 
The symbol of a heartless pride, 

I lift my perfect waxen head. 
While humble blossoms by my side 

Their sweet allurements round me spread. 

I feel my beauty glow and fade, 
A matchless target for decay — 

Yet without power was I made 
To steal the heart away ! 
136 



THE SONG OF THE CAMELLIA 

'Neiitli showy bloom and glossy leaves, 
Which arrogance so well become, 

An Asiatic exile grieves ; 
Ah, pity me — a flower dumb ! 



137 



DAWN AT VENICE 

ONE burnished cloud first turned a jagged 
prow — 
The waking water nestled deep among 
Her murky gondolas, that bow on bow 
Freighted with shadows at the molo swung. 

Soon palace and canal paled into sight, 
Fainting as watchers whose long vigil wanes ; 
Till Dawn's approach across the Avaves of night 
Flushed the rose blood in sleeping Venice' veins. 

Then up the dazzling slcps that lead to God, 
One radiant sunbeam and a lone white dove 
Santa Maria's holy threshold trod, 
A shrine of morning lit by Light and Love ! 

Loud warned the chime to mass o'er quay and 

home. 
Calling soft flocks of doves to greet the day 
'Mid sculptured saints and angels round the dome- 
While market-women followed in to pray. 



138 



HIGH NOON 

HERE where the faint breeze droops u]wn the 
grass, 
Where Summer incense fills the air with pine, — ■ 
Upon the highest hillside, where the sun 
Lifts Nature to himself, — I raise my shrine 

To thee. High Noon ! 
In whose clear eyes, undimmed by doubt or tear 
No secret shadow of the soul is good ; 
Others may dread thy burning judgment white — 
For them be twilight altars in the wood ; 

To thee, High Noon, 
Bare-breasted as a pagan I would come ! 
Test thou my heart — that proven, I may dare 
Exult to shrive me in thy rileless peace. 
And sacramental faith eternal swear 

To thee. High Noon ! 



139 



PLIGHTING 

ACROSS the forced abyss of Time, fair Day and 
J\. waiting Night have met 
To stain their lij)s in sunset's loving-cup ; whose 
ravished sorcery 

Spilled down the sky 
Unheeded runs. Oh ageless lovers, athirst and 

amorous yet ! 
We transient-hearted read the glowing legend of 
thy constancy 

With jealous eye. 



140 



AT CLOSE OF DAY 

EARTH'S harmonies are blent in one, 
At peace with song the drowsy birds ; 
Labor has earned and mirth has spent, 
Nor longer graze the pastured herds. 

Day dreams at last — the sun has gone, 
Leaving the patient trees to stand 

As sentinels of her regret. 

Upon night's dusky border-land. 

One golden gleam awakes the pool. 
That startled lifts a blaze abroad — 

To sink, as breaks in ecstasy 

The high note of a closing chord. 

O comrade season of the soul. 

What sure repose thy silence hath ! 

Lull all the hollows, drown the heights 
In thy deep glooms of aftermath. 



141 



NIGHTFALL 

THE suu puts out his crimson light, 
A hawk ascends her stairway steep ; 
From the near jungle of the night 
I hear the padded tread of sleep ! 



142 



JANUARY 

WHEN Darkness spreads her sombre powers, 
The Winter moon smiles cold and slow ; 
O restless heart, gay Spring flowers, 
How wears the night beneath the snow? 



143 



DIES ROSATIONIS 

IS in Italian Summers, immemorial, 
■A. The Roman roses by the Roman populace 
Were hailed, and eager bartered in the 
market-place, — 
Not for adornment of some pagan carnival, 

Nor yet the toga's flowing fold, or fiivorite's 

hair. 
Nor sweet debauchery of reckless flowering. 
But for the arid tomb's affectioned garlanding. 
Whose lapsing inmates thrill again to human 
care, — 

For one brief day, may we who love the rose, the 
last 
Remembering children of the goldenest age. 
Immortal longings of all vanished Junes 
assuage, 
And toss a crimson pall o'er Summers of the past ! 
Red as the life-blood of Caligula, long shed. 
For one bright feast of memory, their fra- 
grance be 
As homage to Augustan noontides oversea, 
Aurelian dawns — imperial sunsets, dead, 

144 



DIES ROSATIONIB 

Day of the rose ! Tiiy beauty-laden rites restore ! 
Lest ill iinbiidded yeai'S, wben my fond step is 

stayed, 
No cry of color shall escape the heavy shade 
To rouse the perfumed deeps of this young June 
once more ! 



145 



MIDSUMMER 

MIDSUIMMER weariness dotli cling to me — 
The year balli wronglit her dazzling 

pageantry 
And broodetli passive in satiety. 
Wide calms of increase stay her restless wing, 
As flight were but a pastime meet for days 
Before the idle joy of ripening, 
When stress of growth compelled the forest ways. 

O'erspent with torrid bloom the garden burns, 
Nor longer to the sun in trembling turns 

Her faint-hued hopes ; but in her glory spurns 
Him as a rival ! Well she hath forgot 
How once shy perfumes wooed each passing 
- glance 
And drooping blossoms prayed him tarry not — 
Then yielded smiling to his sultry trance ! 
146 



MIDSUMMER 

The meadowbrook hath lost her song ; uo more 

The lusty freshet brawls from shore to shore, 

Nor in strange elfin voices doth implore — 

Command, beseech, or warn of coming woe ; 
Or call her leaping comrades from afar, 

Or glad the thirsty cattle as they go, 

So parched and low her tinkling accents are. 



The grassy folk now lull the livelong night. 
Rocking the silence — haply to requite 
For choruses of birds too old to plight. 
I know not when the red-robed cardinal 
First 'mid the sedge and rank-grown rushes 
stood. 
Nor at what hushed and measured interval 

There fell an herby twilight through the wood ; 



Nor when upon the hills the flooding tide 
Of Summer broke, as up their purple side 
The hoary chestnuts, like surf flinging wide 

Against a foreign shore, did first appear ! 
But now the goldenrod's gay heraldry 

In stony pastures lifts a yellow cheer, 
And heavy walks the grain upon the lea. 

147 



MIDSUMMER 

Midsummer weariness doth cling to me — 
Beneath her fruitage brave the apple-tree 
Stoops with the burden other dignity ; 

Nor longer, as in days of budded bliss, 
Doth toss at pleasure of the vagrant wind. 

Or covet keen the raindrop's jewelled kiss. 
Or Springtide wonder in her nestlings find. 

Not yet, not yet the laggard gentian blue. 

That loveliest lingerer — ever true 
Unto her roadside tryst of hoar and dew ! 
Not yet the sobering of early eves ; 

The fireside joy, whose timely respite glows 
With spirit of the Autumn and her sheaves ; 

Not yet the dusky grape or aught of those 

Proclaiming harbingers ! The covert sign 
Of sap arrested, marks the solstice line ; 
The laugh of Summer now a smile benign. 

But nowhere warns the shadow of the Fall, 
Though nowhere bides the busy seed-time blithe — 

While imperceptible the omens crawl 

Between the distant sickle and the scythe. 

The gleaming corn, in valiant lines arrayed. 
Hath yet no rust upon the shining blade 

Drawn bright against the sun ; and deep in shade 
The green-voiced breath of soothing minstrelsy 
Doth ever coax and rustle, muse and sing — 
While underneath all musky flattery 

The tasselled ear doth hint of harvesting ! 
148 



MIDSUMMER 

The water-lily bares her fragrant breast ; 

Across the cloudless sky from east to west 
No mysteries are hid — no joy uuguessed. 
By day, like some bewildered Romany, 

The crescent moon seeks out her evening trail ; 
The roadside gypsy sells her augury, 

Nor does one looked-for token halt or fail. 

Yet all unmoved we speed the step of life — 
The tarnished pleasure and the loosened strife, 
The garnered wisdom grave, or folly rife ! 

Midsummer weariness doth cling to me ; 
Only our love shall never wax nor wane — 

Eternal pain, eternal ecstasy ! 

Earth's ebb and flow a mask of visions vain. 

Ah, dreams of bloom and fecund sleep, ye lead 
Beyond the pale of time ; ere mortals heed. 
Your beckoned beauties one by one recede ! 

Only our love shall all unchanging stand — 
One fixed star amid the circling spheres, 

Within the rainbow that hath ever spanned 
The heart of man and passing of the years. 



149 



mOV M I0O3 



OCT 30 190/ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



015 799 583 2 



